The Road Less Traveled

Preview

Life is difficult. That is the blunt opening line of this book, and it is not there to depress you. It is there to free you. The moment you stop demanding that life should be easy, the moment you stop shaking your fist at pain as if pain were some strange mistake, you begin to grow up. That is the heart of what M. Scott Peck wants to say. He is not offering a quick cure, a comforting slogan, or a set of tricks to make suffering disappear. He is telling you that the hard path is the path of healing, maturity, and spiritual development. The road less traveled is not some romantic trail through the woods. It is the ordinary daily road of discipline, honesty, responsibility, and love. The book moves from the inner work of self mastery to the mysterious work of grace. It begins with the practical and almost stern claim that most of our problems come from our unwillingness to face reality and endure necessary pain. We avoid, postpone, deny, blame, cling, and fantasize. Then we wonder why our lives become tangled. The answer given here is simple, though not easy. To solve the problems of life, we must learn discipline. We must delay satisfaction, accept responsibility, devote ourselves to truth, and hold all things in balance. These are not glamorous virtues, but they are the tools by which a person becomes whole. From there, the book turns toward love, and here it clears away a great deal of confusion. What many people call love is often dependency, possession, neediness, or the collapse of boundaries. Real love is not a feeling that sweeps us away. It is the will to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth. That definition changes...